Day
9 – Friday, September 2, 2011 – Cappadocia to Ankara
On
Friday morning we all got up early and hiked back up to the lookout point from
the night before to watch the sun rise. One of the main attractions in
Cappadocia is the hot air balloon rides at sunset. While we decided not to do
that, it was amazing to watch the sun come up over the hills with about 60 hot
air balloons on the horizon. We sat there for a long time just watching the
landscape and experiencing the sunrise. With a half day left in Goreme, Jeremy
and I decided to take it easy and explore the town. Daniel, Leah, Abram, and
Leah all rented scooters again and went off to hike in the hills. We had a
lovely morning just walking around the city, exploring some shops, and learning
all about Turkish rugs. We parked ourselves at the Fat Boy Café, where we
played many games of backgammon, sipped tea, and took in the sites. It didn't
hurt that they had incredible nachos, topped with traditional Turkish yogurt.
At 2pm we were back at the bus station, waiting for our bus which would take us
to Ankara (a 5 hour ride). A tiny little van showed up, and we were all a
little confused and scared that we would be spending the next 5 hours crammed
into this little space. Lucky for us, the can just took us to the big bus
station, where we boarded a lovely coach complete with personal TV sets,
drinks, and snacks. We arrived in Ankara around 8pm, and took taxis over to the
train station, where we would board our overnight train to Istanbul. We had dinner
in the café in the station, which is a very old restaurant with a hilarious
waiter (again). On the train each couple had their own sleeper car complete
with two beds, a sink, towels, and slippers. We were lulled to sleep by the
moving train, and woke up 9 hours later, back in Istanbul.
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